Elementalism (Echoes of the Orient)
Elementalism is an extension of Spirit Pressure and far closer to conventional Tamrielic Magic than Spirit Pressure itself. It focuses on the transformation of the energy generated through Spirit Pressure into a supernatural elemental form. Elementalism is unique to the Tsaesci and Ka Po Tun as they are the only Spirit Pressure using races which have a need for such a skill. The only other Spirit Pressure using race, the Kamal, are naturally gifted at natural manipulations and do not learn or require the use of Elementalism. As Elementalism is an extension of Spirit Pressure, it is impossible to learn Elementalism without first knowing Spirit Pressure techniques and having the required level in Spirit Pressure usage. Only a Spirit Pressure user in Soul Crystallization stage or above can use Elementalism. The reason why the techniques are called "Transformations" is not because the user becomes one with their element, but because the user is able to freely transform the shape and intensity of the element that they are using. Lightning Transformation Overview Lightning Transformation is the conversion of Spirit Pressure into electricity. It governs the use of electricity for attack, defense and utility. Lightning transformation works as a conversion, so the resultant electricity produced can actually ignore physical laws, flowing in any direction as fancied by the user. It can easily be shaped into weapons or other attacks if necessary. Lightning Transformation is closely associated with the Tsaesci Itsuka Clan, which is extremely proficient at it. While they are other practitioners associated with Lightning Transformation, none of them can match the sheer skill and power at which the Tsaesci Royal clan uses it. Empress Ayaka Itsuka is the only one not of royal birth who has fully mastered Lightning Transformation, but she is also the most powerful user of it. Known Techniques A list of all known lightning transformation techniques. White Dragon's Lightning Cannon This is known as Hakuryu Raiho to the Tsaesci. It is a powerful ejection of lightning as a beam or cone from the hand, covering a very long range and penetrating all enemies that it strikes. The damage of this is extremely high and if it hits a surface able to stop it, an electrical explosion normally results. The main power of this is not the sheer power of the attack, but the speed at which it moves. Even a strong Spirit Pressure user will fall if struck directly with three to five hits. At it has a very steep magicka requirement, only powerful practitioners use it. These include: * Empress Ayaka Itsuka * Emperor Ryunnosuke Itsuka * Prince Tetsuya Itsuka Electric Demon Silkworms This is a touch spell that injects electrically charged Spirit Pressure into a target's body, working very much similar to the Tsaesci Heart Shattering Palm. The electrical energy works like a parasite, invading the enemy's body and remaining dormant after the initial discomfort from getting shocked. When the target of this skill exerts their Spirit Pressure or uses magicka, a powerful shock will immediately deal heavy damage to them and consume a lot of their magicka, rendering them weak. It can be purged by those who are sufficiently skilled in the manipulation of magicka, especially if they can use lightning transformation. It will also naturally fade away over time. This ability is sometimes used to confuse the enemy or surprise them, but it is mainly a skill for ensuring that an enemy cannot fight back when they are defeated and the user of the ability decides to spare said person. As it indirectly seals their use of Spirit Pressure by killing them should they try to surprise the user, it is effective in such an application. It has the following practitioners: * Empress Ayaka Itsuka Sky Sword This gathers the clouds and calls down a strike of lightning from the skies. It requires a suitable amount of moisture in the air and the winds cannot be too strong. However, once the ability has been invoked, the clouds will form and charge powerful lightning strikes. The electrical energy from the storm can also be channeled into various attacks by any user of lightning transformation, making it dangerous to use in such a situation. It has the following practitioners: * Empress Ayaka Itsuka Storm Cut This is known as Raikiri in Tsaesci. It wraps electricity around a weapon and the weapon is then used to attack as per normal. This allows the user to electrocute opponents when striking them with the electrified weapon. Since electricity conducts through metal, this ability can be freely applied to any metallic weapon to electrify it and is not only achievable with one's own Spirit Sword. Skilled users can even manipulate the electrical energy flowing along their blades to achieve extreme cutting power able to destroy the bonds between matter at ease. Known practitioners are the following: * Emperor Ryunnosuke Itsuka * Empress Ayaka Itsuka * Prince Tetsuya Itsuka * Princess Kasumi Itsuka Thunder Arrow This is known as Kaminari no Ya in Tsaesci. It forms lightning into multiple balls of electricity that independently fly around and seek the enemy. It does not have a high flying speed compared to most electrical powers, but has very accurate tracking and rarely misses non Spirit Pressure users. The stronger the practitioner, the more orbs can be formed. It is a very cheap skill to use. The damage per orb is not high, but it can be curved around shields or curved to hit enemies from behind. This is one of the most basic elemental transformation skills in the Itsuka clan, so most, if not all of them can use it. The practitioners include: * Emperor Ryunnosuke Itsuka (seven orbs) * Empress Ayaka Itsuka (eleven orbs) * Princess Kasumi Itsuka (one orb) * Prince Tetsuya Itsuka (eight orbs) Water Transformation Overview Water Transformation is the conversion of Spirit Pressure into water. It is about the use of water in its three forms for attack, defense and utility. It can be said that ice and vapor manipulation techniques would fall under the scope of Water Transformation. While the state of water can be freely changed with this ability, the temperature of the water does not change, hence it can forcefully change water into ice that is hot, or vapor that is cold. Water transformation has many practitioners and is not associated with any one school of Spirit Pressure, but it is known that Ryu Jin Woo is one of the most skilled users of Water Transformation. Others associated with the Water Transformation include the Clan Heads of the Mikogami Clan. Known Techniques A list of all known Water Transformation techniques Rain Spear This is a technique where the user gathers water in the hand and proceeds to form it into multiple sharp spearheads. With a wave of the hand, the spearheads are fired in a staggered formation to barrage a single area with multiple attacks performed in rapid succession. It has a decently high flight speed and is more accurate than bows and arrows as it does not have any drop over distance. The force of each spearhead is high and able to puncture armor with ease. The kinetic force of the strikes can also knock enemies down and do splash damage. The ice form of this skill can fire sharp stakes of ice which have further improved ability to puncture armor, at the expense of splash damage and ability to knock down. The ice form is easily able to pierce people and can pin them to surfaces. The known users of Rain Spear are: * Ryu Jin Woo (Five to Seven spears) Tidal Wave This technique generates a pulse of water from the hand with strong impact force, able to push enemies back and knock incoming projectiles away. It is akin to striking enemies with a shield bash. The wave will dissipate in density as it moves away from the user, limiting the effective range, but it can easily break bone or crush organs if used within effective range. The ice form of this skill is able to fire a blast of blinding snow that heavily chills an enemy and can blind them. It has better range and gains the ability to inflict cutting wounds, but is less useful against armor than the normal water form. The users of Tidal Wave include: * Ryu Jin Woo Deep Grasp This technique is where the user condenses water in the air and generates tendrils of water that can be used to strike targets like a whip, immobilize people by coiling around them or even kill by constriction. The strength of the tendril is dependent on the power of the user. It is normally impossible to escape for a non Spirit Pressure user who cannot counter the strength of the binds. Known users include: * Ryu Jin Woo Mist Prison This technique uses water vapor and not water, constraining it around a target to deprive them of oxygen by displacing all the air around an enemy with water vapor On the surface, it appears that the target is simply dying of asphyxiation, even on dry land. It leaves no traces if it is used to kill people. It is less effective on Spirit Pressure users which can break the technique apart and regulate their own breathing to reduce oxygen dependency. The ice form of this skill can freeze a person inside a solid block of ice. The known users of Mist Prison are: * Ryu Jin Woo Fist of Floods A technique which constructs water into a large mass, then slams it down from above the target to do high damage. The explosive force from this attack can blow a crater in the ground when performed by a powerful user of Water Transformation. It will easily crush most mortals in a single attack and even those with a powerful Spirit Pressure foundation will not survive more than a few direct hits. Known users include: * Ryu Jin Woo Fire Transformation Overview Fire Transformation is the conversion of Spirit Pressure into flames of varying temperature and intensity. It is a rather common and favored use of Spirit Pressure, as flame based Elementalism can set things on fire and spread its damage to a much larger scale than most other forms. The highest possible skill in Fire Transformation is the use of black flames, where all light, heat and other forms of energy are fully concentrated within the body of the flame itself, making it not just extremely hot, but very precise. There are many practitioners of the Fire Transformation, including much of the Itsuka and Hoshimiya clans in the Tsaesci as well as powerful Ka Po Tun like Emperor Li Xuanwen. Ren Mikogami is one of the known users of black flame techniques. Known Techniques A list of all known Fire Transformation techniques Phoenix Lance Known as "Ho'o no Yari" in the Tsaesci tongue and "Shenhuo Qiang" in the Ka Po Tun tongue. This is a simple technique that gathers flames in the hand before ejecting it as a beam of hot energy. It has a long range and can hit most targets with ease. This is one of the most basic techniques of fire transformation and can be used with any form of fire manipulation. The known users of Phoenix Lance include: * Ren Mikogami Phoenix Blaze This is a continuous technique that fires a stream of firebolts from the user's hand, which seeks out enemies that are within the user's line of sight. It has a high fire rate, even if the individual bolts are not very powerful. The firebolts travel at a decent speed and can track targets reasonably well. It is best used for setting flammable objects on fire, but also excels for offense against people. It is an easy technique to use. Known users of Phoenix Blaze include: * Ren Mikogami Phoenix Burst This is a technique that generates a directional explosion of flame. It is normally restricted to being used from the hand of the caster unless there is another technique to fire it from another area. The explosion is powerful and highly damaging, but this has very limited range as the flames bloom outward and lose temperature. It can send enemies flying it it hits them. Ren Mikogami is able to employ it at any range since he can fire it from his Talismans. This allows him to use it as a long ranged area attack rather than a short ranged blast. Known practitioners include: * Ren Mikogami Flame Cutter This technique is based on Spirit Edge. It is used to apply flames to a weapon by the same principles as Spirit Edge, but is used to ignite one's own spirit sword. As the weapon is clad in magic, magic cannot actually reach the weapon and affect it in any way. Ren Mikogami can use this on any weapon as he can wrap his talismans around the weapon. This allows the user to deflect spells as if they were solid. Ren's mastery of the black flame techniques also means he can use black flames for this, allowing him to cut through almost any solid through vaporisation of said solid. Known users of the Flame Cutter include: * Ren Mikogami * Princess Kasumi Itsuka Star Stealing Flame Whip An advanced technique used by certain flame transformation masters. It forms flames into a physical whip which can apply a cutting effect. The speed at which this is swung exceeds a physical whip and it can freely change shape to suit the desires of the user. The Tsaesci Hoshimiya clan is known to be skilled at using this technique. The Dragonknight Lava Whip skill is claimed by Ren to be a weak imitation of this ability, given how limited it is. The whip behaves like a solid weapon under full telekinetic control of the user, able to stiffen or become more flexible on demand. It can also retract or extend. Known users of the Star Stealing Flame Whip include: * Ren Mikogami Flame Barrier Using magical fire charged with Spirit Pressure to form a hard barrier against magical and physical attacks. It manifests as a wall of fire which still emits great heat. This skill can both protect the user from attacks and injure those who try to walk through it. Known users of Flame Barrier include: * Ren Mikogami Appearances * Echoes of the Orient Trivia *Elemental Transformation is closer in nature to direct use of elemental magic in Xianxia style stories compared to Wuxia. It is also similar to Anime, due in no small part to the overlap of modern Xianxia and Anime in general. *Unlike typical anime, users of elemental powers have no need to call their attacks or perform any fancy wind up moves. The whole point of elementalism powers is to immediately cast high power but adjustable spells via Spirit Pressure. These are not trump card powers, but attacks to be fitted into a fighting repertoire. *It is normal for Spirit Pressure users to avoid using elemental powers unless absolutely necessary, as it reveals the elements they can control and magicka is generally conserved for when it is needed most. It is normal to defeat enemies with minimum required force. Category:Echoes of the Orient Category:Powers and Abilities